Wednesday’s Master Investor Market Report

• The FTSE 100 closed the day at 6,336.35, an increase of 10.19 points.
• The FTSE 250 fell by 101.60 points to finish at 17,031.22.
• The FTSE All Share climbed by 1.43 points to 3,471.25.
• The FTSE AIM All Share finished at 733.65, up by 0.10 points.

Supermarket Tesco (TSCO) has reported that operating profits for the twenty six weeks ended 29th August dropped by almost 55% to £354 million as revenues dropped by more than £400 million. Management also said that after weighing the options, Tesco would keep hold of its Dunhumby data unit. Despite the steep declines, profits where ahead of analysts’ expectations and Hargreaves Lansdown said that the business was looking healthier than it was a year ago. The shares climbed by 4.85p to 197p.

Media outfit Johnston Press (JPR) announced that it will cease publishing a number of its struggling print titles in order to cut costs and focus resources on online growth fields. A number of business and marketing functions are also being outsourced.The full savings are expected to kick in during the next financial year. Shares rose by 1.75p to 76.50p.

AIM listed builder ISG (ISG) won a £29 million contract to develop a new office complex on London’s Lombard Street. The company will both design and construct the facility which is to comprise of 12 storeys and roughly 58,000 square feet of usable space. Shares in the firm closed the day at 214p, a 10p increase.

Precious stones specialist Gemfields (GEM) saw its shares drop by 6.3% to 55.75p after rising costs caused pre-tax profits for the year ended 30th July to fall by almost a quarter to $12.3 million (£8.04 million). Revenues continued to grow on the back of higher production levels and record auction earnings.

Tomorrow’s news today

DFS Furniture (DFS) will post its final results.

Quote of the day

“Opportunities are like sunrises. If you wait too long, you miss them.”
– William Arthur Ward